Tuesday 26/5/15
Propelinfonews.com: Coaching inn operator receives top accolade from world’s largest hotel site: Coaching inn operator Bulldog Hotel Group’s Talbot Hotel has been welcomed to TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame following consistent glowing reviews. Based in Oundle, Northamptonshire, the 35-room Grade 1 listed hotel received the top accolade after winning Trip Advisor’s Certificate of Excellence for five consecutive years. Kevin Charity, Bulldog Hotel’s managing director, said: “We are thrilled the Talbot Hotel has been acknowledged by TripAdvisor for its consistent positive reviews from guests. It has been a great six months for the hotel and this accolade is testimony to the success of our continued investment programme and dedication to the highest standards of customer service from our excellent team.”
Leicester Mercury: Meatcure opens a second restaurant in Leicester creating 20 jobs: A new burger restaurant is opening in Leicester, creating 20 jobs. Meatcure will be opening its second restaurant in Highcross Street, Leicester, in June. The first Meatcure restaurant is based in Market Harborough and opened in October 2014. Rob Martyniak, who set up the restaurant with Sam Rooker-Roberts and Paul Rigby, said: “We are really passionate about good quality food. Opening up the new restaurant in Leicester after the success of the Market Harborough restaurant seems like the natural progression. Read more
Propelinfonews.com: Wasabi to open close to YO! Sushi in Cambridge in mid-June: A 80-seat Wasabi is to open in Cambridge’s Petty Cury pedestrianised shopping street in mid-June, a few feet from YO! Sushi. A spokeswoman for Wasabi said: “With its large student population and vibrant business community, plus a busy tourist destination, Cambridge city centre was an ideal location to expand the Wasabi’s offering. We are confident Wasabi be popular with hungry shoppers in search of something new, different and healthy.” Other restaurants serving Japanese food in Cambridge include Japas Sushi in Saxon Street, U-Sushi in Burleigh Street, Teri-Aki in Quayside, Ohayo Sushi in Mill Road, Genki in Regent Street and Wagamama in St Andrew’s Street.
Wednesday 27/5/15
Propelinfonews.com: Industry urged to celebrate national beer day on 15 June: Breweries, pubs and drinkers are being urged to celebrate Britain’s first national beer day on Monday 15 June. Beer Day Britain, instigated by beer sommelier and author Jane Peyton with the assistance of brewers Sophie de Ronde and Sara Barton, aims to raise awareness of Britain’s national drink and is supported by all the major organisations in the beer world. The day coincides with another important date in British history – the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta – in an effort to show how important beer is in the national story, both historically and today. Ale is mentioned in clause 35 of the charter, which was sealed in 1215, hence the connection with Beer Day Britain. Breweries, pubs and drinkers can show their support by downloading the Beer Day Britain logo, beer mat artwork and information pack from the website at www.BeerDayBritain.co.uk.
Thursday 28/5/15
Spalding Today: Quarter-million transformation at Long Sutton pub: A ‘spit and sawdust’ pub in the heart of Long Sutton has become a fabulous boutique hotel, bar and restaurant. Around £250,000 – and months of hard work – have transformed the Market Place Turpins bar into a stylish place to eat, sleep and drink. The new lease of life comes with a new name, Palmers Ale House and Kitchen, but the link with the legendary highwayman Dick Turpin remains because John Palmer was his alias. Sean Portass and partner Dana Garkavaya have lined up a huge celebration when Palmers opens its doors at 7pm on Friday, June 5 with live music from The Marcarno’s, a top Norwich acoustic four-piece band. The party continues over the weekend with a Peterborough rock and roll band, The Glorious One Eyed Cats, appearing from 7pm on the Saturday and a jazz and swing afternoon on the Sunday. Changes at Palmers that are there for all to see include a new thatched roof and an exterior colour change from mellow magnolia to Suffolk pink. But the interior has seen massive changes too. Sean said: “We bought Turpins in August last year and we started work immediately – it was terrible, it was just a grubby little spit and sawdust pub and now it’s a boutique hotel, bar and restaurant with eight letting bedrooms.” Read More
Propelinfonews.com: Operator – Sky price freeze disingenuous: A leading bar operator, who asked to remain anonymous but has a six-figure annual Sky subscription, has described yesterday’s announcement of a price freeze for next season as “disingenuous”. The operator told Propel: “Sky seems to have ignored the fact that it has lost the rights to broadcast the Champions League. The Champions League is very big business for pubs – to state that this is a price freeze is completely disingenuous.” Alison Dolan, Sky Business deputy managing director, said: “Sky has more of the matches that matter to pubs and clubs, including the biggest Premier League and Championship matches in prime viewing slots. We know that domestic football is the biggest driver of pub footfall and we have more than 200 matches per year featuring British teams, across four days of the week. Having signed 25 deals in 2014 alone, we are continually adding to and extending our rights portfolio, investing in our unrivalled customer support, while holding prices for the fourth time in five years. Our pricing is based on the total value of our portfolio of content, which includes rights, production and talent.”
Friday 29/5/15
Propelinfonews.com: Tasty secures first site for Wildwood in Lincolnshire: Tasty has secured its first Wildwood site in Lincolnshire. It plans to open at the former Mall Shopping Centre in Lincoln. Tim Bradford, managing director of Banks Long & Co, which oversaw the let, said: “We have turned down a number of wet-led late night bar operations in favour of Wildwood, which offers a top-quality dining experience, including a small bar and retail area. This new name for Lincoln signals new jobs and continues the revitalisation process being seen throughout the city centre.
Morningadvertiser: JDW forced to apologise to travellers for the second time in a month
By M and C Report , 29-May-2015
JD Wetherspoon has been forced to apologise, for the second time in a month, to a group of travellers refused entry to its pubs.
Propelinfonews.com: Lacons Brewery to open first pub in 50 years in partnership with Henry Watt: The Great Yarmouth-based Lacons Brewery is to open its first pub in 50 years in partnership with the veteran Norfolk operator and founder of Animal Inns Henry Watt. Lacons will be opening the Honingham Buck in Honingham, eight miles west of Norwich, to showcase Lacons’ range of ales. The pub has been restored while, Lacons said, retaining its historic appeal. A new dining area has been created along with a new kitchen, new toilets, disabled facilities and additional parking to create a “contemporary community pub”. Next year the pub will offer accommodation with eight bedrooms.
Propelinfonews.com: Red Hot World Buffet tweaks Leicester offer after slow start: Red Hot World Buffet is to tweak its menu at its Leicester venue after interim chief executive James Horler admitted the 10-month-old restaurant was “doing less well than we thought”. Horler told Propel: “We’re less busy than we thought we would be. We would like to be doing 20% more sales than we are. But we’ve had competition – Leicester has had an abundance of openings. Since we opened there have been Frankie & Benny’s, Bill’s, Byron, the list goes on and on of the people that have come in. I think every restaurant is finding it quite difficult. But we are still the third busiest restaurant in Highcross, and we’re still in our first year, in month ten. We’re still looking at developing the food offering around the mix of audience, and in fact that’s happening next week. We’re changing our Indian range to be slightly more modern Indian, It was quite traditional Indian, with bhajees and things like that. We believe, from some work we did last week, that that needs to be changed to be more modern Indian flavours.
Propeinfonews.com: New tenanted lease length drops to five years in wake of MRO: The average pub company tenanted lease length fell to five years in the first quarter of 2015, against seven years in 2014, according to the RICS Pubs Benchmarking Survey. The average rent on a new lease was £25,549 a year and the average projected turnover was £335,377 a year. The average rent on a new lease was 7.5% of projected turnover. On average, the wet share of turnover on new leases was 77% while the dry share was 21%. On average, 35% of new leases have a part tie, 60% of new leases have a full tie and 5% of new leases were free-of-tie. The total number of new leases in the first quarter of 2015 was 219. Enterprise Inns, Punch Taverns, Marston’s and Star Pubs & Bars contributed to the survey. On the drop in average lease length, one observer told Propel: “I suspect this is the immediate impact of the ‘market rent only’ option.”
Propelinfonews.com: Turtle Bay to open in Derby in August: The Caribbean restaurant chain Turtle Bay is to open in the old Jobcentre Plus building at the Wardwick in Derby’s Cathedral Quarter in August, creating 60 jobs. The four-storey 8,500 sq ft property was let to Turtle Bay by the commercial property agent Telereal Trillium. The chain is now up to 17 outlets, with its nearest venue to Derby currently Nottingham. Martin Langsdale, chairman of the Cathedral Quarter Management Group, said: “The Cathedral Quarter is renowned as the city’s high quality leisure destination. We are delighted that Turtle Bay has chosen the Cathedral Quarter to open its latest Caribbean restaurant. It will be an excellent and high quality addition to the international cuisine on offer in this area and will add to the vibrancy of this part of the city centre. It has further strengthened the leisure offer here and join a wide range of well-established venues which make the Cathedral Quarter a destination of choice for local people and visitors to Derby.”